Here you will find recaps for generation 1 of Monte Vista Stories. You can use these to catch up to where the story is at the moment, in case you’re too busy to read it all. Alternatively, they’re for if you need a refresher of what happened in the last chapter, since there’s sometimes a long time between chapters. If you’re not up to date and want to avoid spoilers, tread with care!
1. Vittoria:
Vittoria Nespola arrives in Monte Vista on the doorstep of Carlo and Camillo Mancini. She’s the daughter of their old babysitter, Lucia. Carlo, the older brother, is hesitant to take her in because he’s involved in organised crime. However, he soon learns that Vittoria already knows about his criminal activity and doesn’t mind. She seems to have secrets of her own – while she claims to have been kicked out of her home, Carlo figures out that she ran.
2. Friends in the right places:
Vittoria notices that Carlo is trying to avoid her, though both brothers deny that this is the case. She wants Carlo to be okay with her presence, though, and jumps on the chance to help him out when he’s arrested. Vittoria gets him out of prison through a contact, which alerts others to her presence in Monte Vista. After thanking her, Carlo gets her to admit that her father was involved in organised crime, though he’s now dead.
3. The Happy Crook:
The brothers show Vittoria around Monte Vista, showing her among other things a beach where they used to come with her mother. At the beach, Carlo tells her he’s found a place for her to live permanently, and they go see the place, Bell Farm, right away. Back at Carlo and Camillo’s house, Vittoria notices Carlo’s painting skills and she deduces that he hasn’t turned to crime because he had to, but because he likes it.
4. Till We Meet Again:
Carlo and Vittoria refuse to talk about things, and are driving Camillo nuts. When moving day finally arrives, they have a long overdue talk. It turns sour, though, when Carlo admits his attraction to Vittoria. She’s not unreceptive, but he still refuses to do anything about the attraction and kicks her out. Vittoria ends up slapping him and stomps off in rage.
5. Alive:
Time has passed, and Carlo and Vittoria still refuse to talk. Vittoria throws herself into sculpting and taking care of the farm while Carlo focuses on his work. Camillo tries to mediate, but they’re both stupid faces. When Carlo meets up with an informant, she tells him that a supposedly dead gang leader is still alive and hiding in Monte Vista. He realises quickly that it has to be Vittoria and rushes to her. Meanwhile, Vittoria is faced with an armed thug.
6. Cornered Animal:
Carlo arrives at the farm and finds the body of the man that confronted Vittoria. Further into the house, he finds Vittoria, covered in blood and bruises and acting erratically. He manages to calm her down and promises to take care of her.
7. Head of the Family:
Vittoria is treated for her injuries and tells Carlo her story. She grew up with Alessandro Giocondo, who trained her as a bodyguard to defend him. She became the leader of her gang after Alessandro was taken out by a plan made by Vittoria’s mother, Lucia. She’s still mad at him for kicking her out, and Carlo apologises and promises to be there for her from now on.
8. Walking Contradiction:
Carlo, Franco, and Vittoria meet up to discuss how to best protect Vittoria from her would-be assassins. After the conversation, Carlo admits he’s still attracted to her, and after some teasing she gives in and they make love. Afterwards, she wonders at and is weirded out by how a supposedly hardened criminal can be both gentle and affectionate. She appreciates it nonetheless. Carlo then admits to being in love with her.
9. The Wedding Spy:
Four years have passed. In the interim years, Carlo and Vittoria have had two kids and are getting married. Vittoria feels watched on her wedding day and is paranoid. Carlo tries to help her enjoy herself and relax, but soon Franco declares that he’s found who was spying on them: a little girl.
10. Replacement Goldfish:
The girl is named Marta Zini, and she’s the daughter of Vittoria’s contact – the one she called when Carlo was arrested. It turns out he died four years ago when Vittoria’s mother killed him and took his daughter. She’s been a replacement for Vittoria for the past years. Now that she’s free, though, Vittoria is concerned that her mother is going to come looking for her. It’s all Carlo can do to convince Vittoria not to send Marta back.
11. Hindsight:
Vittoria grows more and more paranoid, while Carlo tries to keep things together. He takes her to meetings with his crew, and at one of them, a member reveals that there are unpleasant rumours circulating about her: rumours that she’s going to kill her husband and take the gang. She asks to meet with Franco to discuss the rumours – the two realise that if Carlo doesn’t shape up, he’ll lose control of the gang. Vittoria formulates a plan to buy them some time.
12. Too Nice:
Carlo enjoys a nice day at the museum with his wife when disaster strikes – a subset of her old gang come to take him out. At Vittoria’s orders. She leaves, and Carlo only survives because Franco and his gang are nearby. Distressed and enraged, he sends out his men to find her. Meanwhile, she’s in hiding and feeling terrible about her actions.
13. All Part of the Plan
Vittoria is back with her old gang, doing her best to keep the act up. Along with her is Marta, who’s supposed to play a part in her plans. Carlo is still recovering from the shock, and he turns to his brother for support, though Camillo is just as eager to find reasons for Vittoria to be innocent.
14. Traces of the Past
Carlo and a group of Good Guys storm an abandoned warehouse that’s known to house the Giocondo family. It’s not likely they’ll find Vittoria there, but Carlo nonetheless joins. They don’t find Vittoria but, to their surprise, they do find her mother, Lucia. She’s strange and a little out of it, but willingly follows them back to Monte Vista. Meanwhile, Vittoria tries to comfort Marta before she has to go to Monte Vista and isn’t very good at it.
15. Alessandro’s Downfall
Carlo has a chat with Lucia and she has some interesting things to say about Vittoria’s past. She claims it was Vittoria who killed her stepfather after a particularly bad beating he gave her that almost resulted in severe damage to her eyes. However, Lucia is also adamant it wasn’t her daughter’s fault, but her boyfriend, who planted the ideas in her head. Carlo isn’t sure whether to believe it but he does decide to dig into the matter.
16. Another Kind of Evil
Marta comes back from Monte Vista with a message telling Vittoria that Carlo and his gang have her mother as well as relating what Lucia has told them – that Vittoria killed her stepfather. Marta knows as well, and Vittoria further tells her that she killed him because she was manipulated into it by her mother. Her mother was the true leader of the gang all along. Finally, Vittoria sends Marta back to Monte Vista and Carlo while she herself gets ready to go kill her mother.
17. A Small Oversight
Vittoria heads to the house that Franco has told her houses her mother, intending to kill Lucia once and for all. However, once she makes it there, she’s met by Gallo and a couple of others from the gang. They’re in league with Lucia – something Vittoria overlooked because her mother used to hate Gallo. She tries to warn Gallo that her mother is only using him, but he isn’t very receptive. He leaves Vittoria to go kill Carlo. Lucia has agreed to “take care of” her daughter while he’s gone, and at Vittoria’s insistence, her mother finally drops her act…
18. An Offer to Refuse
Lucia makes Vittoria an offer: They kill off Gallo and work together, controlling Carlo’s gang behind his back. She refuses, and soon after, Carlo comes. He ponders what to do about his wife, now that he finally caught her.
19. Odi et Amo
Carlo has a chance to hear out Vittoria for the first time since she betrayed him. Vittoria expects Carlo to kill her for what she did, but he assures her that isn’t going to happen. She’s shocked and tries to convince him to do it for his own sake. Carlo starts realising why she betrayed him – she thought he looked weak to the world and he wanted her to stand out as strong by killing her. She explains to him what her mother did to her and then they realise that Marta, who was supposed to be with Carlo by now, is gone. Someone shoots up the house and they have to duck for cover. After some pleading, Carlo agrees to set Vittoria free.
20. Part of a Plan
Vittoria has a plan, or at least part of one. She pleads with Carlo to give her his gun and distract the shooters outside while she goes and finds Marta. She succeeds in finding the girl, who was caught running away, and she saves her. After asking Marta to hide, she goes to get Gallo. He ambushes her before she gets the chance.
21. One Good Man
Carlo is left behind in his old house along with Lucia and is, understandably, freaked out that his mother-in-law is apparently a master of manipulation – he wonders if it can be true. Unfortunately, his doubt makes Lucia realise that the jig is up. Meanwhile, Vittoria is pinned down by Gallo, but she manages to fight him off by exploiting his anger and a hidden affection for her. She arrives at the house just in time. Lucia, angered by Carlo’s talk of his father, is about to stab him when Vittoria arrives and puts and end to Lucia. Carlo and Vittoria are together, but not for long as it would be a slap in the face to Carlo’s gang to take her back – instead he urges her to leave Monte Vista with Franco, and the two of them are separated once again.
22. To Move Past the Pain
A year has passed, and Vittoria is hiding in a cabin far from Monte Vista. She’s coming to terms with the peace and quiet and spends her days sculpting and reading anything she can get her hand on. One day Carlo appears and after she admits that she thought she’d never see him again, they have a tender reunion and make love. In the evening, Carlo wakes up, thinking back on the past year – he’s had a stressful time, raising their kids alone and handling the gang while grieving the way his marriage was. Vittoria joins him soon after and they have a heart to heart about what happened. They still love each other, but also have doubts and there’s a lot of pain to move on past. Still, they decide to try and make it work. Carlo will visit her as often as possible, and one day he’ll move to her cabin once he retires and leaves the gang in their daughter Regina’s hands.
